1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical connector which is provided with a supporting mechanism for supporting a swivelable terminal module thereof in a dielectric housing thereof.
2. Description of Prior Art
With the development trend in computers, connectors which are designed for transmitting high speed signals or logics, such as backplane connectors, serial ATA connectors and so on, are becoming more and more popular, and industry businesses are developing such electrical connectors to meet this requirement. The backplane connector is adapted for electrically and mechanically connecting or disconnecting two PCBs which are oriented essentially perpendicularly with respect to each other. One of the two PCBs is a first insert card which is perpendicularly plugged with respect to the other second board named as a backplane to motherboard.
Referring to U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,713 B1, a backplnae connector disclosed therein has a dielectric housing and two connector halves retained in the housing. The connector halves can be swiveled toward each other and away from each other about a pivot lug which is retained in a recessed section defined in the housing. In a mounting position, they are swiveled away from each other, the connector halves allow the insertion of the first insert card. In a connected position, the connector halves are swiveled toward each other to connect the insert card to the second backplane on which the connector is mounted. Therefore, how to securely support the pivot lug in a predetermined position so as to steadily rotate the connector halves is an important issue, otherwise the pivot lugs will be slide or offset during swiveling, thereby adversely effecting electrical and mechanical connection between the two PCBs. However, the above-mentioned invention does not disclose an effective means to support the pivot lug in a predetermined position. Hence, a backplane connector having an improved supporting mechanism for supporting the pivot lug in a predetermined position is desired to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art.
A main object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a supporting mechanism adapted for securely supporting a terminal module thereof in a dielectric housing of the connector;
A minor object of the present invention is to provide an electrical connector having a supporting mechanism which is easy to manufacture and low in cost.
To fulfill the above-mentioned objects, an electrical connector in accordance with the present invention is adapted for establishing an electrical connection between two PCBs which are oriented essentially perpendicularly with respect to each other. The electrical connector comprises an insulative housing which defines a cavity and a plurality of passageways communicating with the cavity both extending through a bottom face thereof, a rotatable terminal module and a plurality of conductive contacts respectively accommodated into the cavity and the passageways from underside of the housing. The terminal module is formed with at least one pivot lug to be retained in a receiving slot defined in the housing. The terminal module is swivelable about the pivot lug toward or away from the contacts inserted in the housing for connecting or disconnecting with the two PCBs. A supporting mechanism is a xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shaped metal plate and is formed with a pair of retaining arms defining an opening therebetween to be engageble with the pivot lug. Each retaining arm forms a retaining ear and a retaining tab extending in opposite directions from opposite ends thereof for interferingly abutting against two opposite side faces of the receiving slot, thereby securely supporting the pivot lug in a predetermined position during its swiveling.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.